'Lots of prayer' as Pocomoke mourns murder victims

Pastor Anna Foster of Mt. Zion Methodist church in Pocomoke, talks about the Purnell family and their service to the church and community.
Megan Raymond

Buy Photo

A member of the church shares a photo of Marvin W. Purnell with children Marvin D. Purnell, Karen Purnell (center) and Renee Purnell Cooper. This photo was shared on Facebook. (Photo: Staff Photo by Megan Raymond)Buy Photo

Groton Road in Pocomoke City is a short connector road that stretches between Carter Avenue and Worcester County Highway, lined with quaint single-story homes.

"You only see about three cars a day come through here," said resident Janice Elliott.

But Tuesday morning, there was a steady trickle of cars, a lot more than Elliott's seen in her 35 years at her residence. It might have something to do with what happened across the street the day prior on Sept. 12.

Maryland State Police said 46-year-old Marvin Purnell Jr. shot to death his sister, 52-year-old Karen Purnell, and his father, 78-year-old Marvin Purnell Sr. The Pocomoke City man then took his own life after being surrounded by Worcester County sheriff's deputies, who were called to check on Karen after she failed to report to work at St. James United Methodist Church AME in Salisbury.

Buy Photo

No trespassing signs have been placed at the residents on Groton Road in Pocomoke City, Md. on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016, where an apparent murder suicide took place yesterday.(Photo: Staff Photo by Megan Raymond)

"I heard it come over the scanner," Elliott said. "Then I saw a Worcester County sheriff show up and he walked around the house for a good while. I came out and sat on my step, and he came over."

Elliott then directed the deputy to another neighbor who had a key. When the deputy finally got into the house, he came back over to talk to the neighbors, Elliott said.

"He didn't really elaborate much, but he said there were bodies in there," Elliott said. "You know the rest."

After an hour of trying to get a hold of "Little Marvin," as Elliott called him, deputies shot a tear gas canister inside. State police say the canister sparked a small fire, which had to be put out by the Pocomoke Fire Department. Officers entered the home and found Marvin Purnell Jr. dead from a single gun wound, with a rifle underneath his body, state police said.

The Purnells bodies were taken to Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for autopsy, according to Sgt. DaVaughn Parker of the state police. The Maryland State Police Homicide Unit is still actively investigation the incident, the sergeant said Tuesday.

Take it day by day

The Rev. Anna Foster has led the congregation at Mount Zion United Methodist Church in Pocomoke City since July 2013. In the three years, she's preached to the congregation of 80 members, Foster said she has never had to comfort congregants, friends and families outside the scene of a suspected murder-suicide, much less when two of her flock were the victims.

"There were a lot of pastors there because they are a big family, holding hands and wiping tears," Foster said. "The more experienced pastors helped calm me down, and we were able to provide the support to the family and the congregation. ... in a town this size, we are all family, all related in some way. There will be lots of prayer and we will keep singing, taking this one day at a time, day by day."

“In a town this size, we are all family, all related in some way. There will be lots of prayer and we will keep singing, taking this one day at a time, day by day.”

The Rev. Anna Foster

Karen Purnell and her father were active, yet quiet members of the congregation, according to Foster. She said the two were inseparable.

"Where ever Karen was, her father was right there to support her," Foster said. "They were both humble people who wanted to stay in the background and keep working steadily. Unless you were there, you would never know the things they would do for the church."

Marvin Purnell Sr., though approaching 80, was described as a hard-working man who didn't slow down — he would kept a meticulous yard with a garden from which he would pick for church dinners. And those church dinners, whether they were funerals or community events, was Marvin's and Karen's specialty.

"Mr. Marvin, he could take ordinary food and make it good," Foster said. "His chicken and dumplings, his soups, he cooked up everything with fresh food. Him and Karen would go into that kitchen and, before you know it, after an hour you wouldn't even know they were back there. They were so busy cooking — they just loved cooking for people."

The father and daughter would even throw a once-a-year celebration called Be Good Community, durning which they would feed anyone who stopped by the church with their homecooked meals, according to Foster. Some years, the Purnells would serve up to 300 plates of food, from morning into the afternoon, Foster said.

This past Sunday, food was supposed to be served following services, according to Foster. After repeated calls and texts were made to Karen, church members went over to the house to check on them, Foster said. No one was home at the time.

Foster said in her three years with the congregation, she may have only seen Marvin Purnell Jr. "about four times" at church. She said he was quiet and respectful.

It doesn't matter what the soothsayers say

Sgt. Parker said that as of Tuesday afternoon, state police investigators have yet to figure out why Marvin Purnell Jr. killed his father and sister.

Standing on porch, across from the crime scene, Elliott said the younger Purnell moved back home about 10 years ago after a failed marriage. He was a lot like his father — willing to help out anyone in the neighborhood, according to Elliott.

Marvin Purnell Jr.(Photo: Facebook image)

"He was always willing to pitch in. Whenever it snowed, he would shovel the driveway for me so I could get my newspaper," Elliott said. "I usually get up early to get the paper, before the sunrises. 'Little Marvin' smoked cigarettes so he couldn't smoke in the house; Big Marvin was adamant about that. So whenever I would go to my paper, he would be smoking on the porch. He'd say, 'How you doing, Ms. Janice?' "

In the week leading up to deaths, Elliot said "Little Marvin" brought over some tomatoes, freshly picked from his father's garden. The elder Purnell tended to the garden every year, planting tomatoes for summer and turnips for the fall, Elliott said. When the food was ripe for picking, the Purnells would gift a few bushels to the neighbors along the road. Sometimes "Little Marvin" would deliver them, according to Elliott.

"I always trusted him and I wasn't scared of him," Elliott said. "He was a nice man. He never had a problem with playing with the kids around the neighborhood, teaching them how to ride bikes. He was like all the children Mr. Marvin and his wife raised; they were all raised with good morals and ethics and taught to work hard."

'Little Marvin' wasn't without his past. According to online Maryland court records, he spent 10 days in the Worcester County Detention Center after receiving a cocaine conviction in 2007. He also got fined $150 in Baltimore for possession of a controlled substance in 1995. But neither of these convictions were violent in nature — there are no assaults, robberies or murders on his record.

But in the city of 4,168 people, the rumor mill has already began as to why Purnell shot his sister and father, according to Elliott.

"I call them soothsayers, they think they know what happened," Elliott said. "But nobody will ever know. I know he had a surgery for a brain tumor back in June-July, but he didn't seem different after that. He also lost his job recently; Mr. Marvin, his father, was telling me about that. But I don't know what happened; I'm just grasping."